Summary
Princess Peach: Showtime’s transformations are the clear draw of the game, allowing players to see Peach in a variety of roles and levels designed around each transformation’s specific gimmick. The game does a great job of making each of these transformations feel unique, despite some being more successful than others. However, there is still a lot of untapped potential left in this transformation mechanic that a sequel or even DLC forPrincess Peach: Showtimecould take full advantage of and deliver even more interesting level designs based around a new set of transformations.
DespitePrincess Peach: Showtimealready having 10 primary transformationsand one endgame transformation, how these transformations are utilized leaves the door open for future content to take the mechanic to the next level. With howPrincess Peach: Showtimehelps Peach grow into an identity of her own using these transformation abilities, it would make sense for a future game or DLC to build upon this identity. With this concept in mind, there are many directions a future sequel or DLC could take to enhance the transformation mechanics ofPrincess Peach: Showtime.
The Floodgates Have Been Opened for Transformations in a Princess Peach: Showtime DLC or Sequel
One of the most interesting things aboutPrincess Peach: Showtime’s stage designs are the ways in which they bend the rules of a traditional collectathon-platformer to fit the specific concepts each transformation ability brings to the table. While some transformations like Dashing Thief Peach or Ninja Peach follow fairly traditional action-platformer tropes, transformations likeDetective Peach and Patissiere Peachbreak that mold, albeit to varying degrees of success. Rather than focusing on platforming or combat, Detective Peach stages have players solving mysteries, and Patissiere Peach stages have them playing mini-games to bake sweets.
Given how these stages stretch the limits of what a level can do mechanically outside the confines of what players might expect from a game like this, a future sequel or DLC has the potential to really up the ante of what is possible in its level designs. Some ofPrincess Peach: Showtime’s stages play it pretty safe, withSwordfighter Peachstages and Kung Fu Peach stages both featuring a combination of combat and platforming. However, there are a near-infinite number of potential roles Peach could take on with transformations in future content that would allow for the developers to produce much more diverse and creative level design.
Potential Transformations that Could Appear in a Sequel to Princess Peach: Showtime
One way DLC or a sequel toPrincess Peach: Showtimecould go above and beyond the transformations already present in the game is by leaning into the idea of designing transformations around mechanics that wouldn’t typically be considered for a platformer. A good example of this type of transformation would be a potential Racer Peach inspired byMario Kart, who could have auto-scrolling stages designed around avoiding obstacles by jumping with a car, similar to theKoopa Troopa Car fromSuper Mario Maker 2. Perhaps the stage could alternate between side-scrolling sections and top-down racing sections to further flip the script on traditional platforming mechanics.
Another direction futurePrincess Peach: Showtimecontent could go in regard to transformations is streamlining concepts already present in the game. For example, a new transformation could combine the concepts of Swordfighter Peach and Kung Fu Peach to create Samurai Peach, whose main gameplay mechanic is to battle foes one-on-one, requiring players to press the attack button at just the right time to slice through their opponent in one hit. Both of these routes show the potential next steps new transformations could take and demonstrate that there are still a lot of unexplored ideas left that warrantfuture content forPrincess Peach: Showtime.
